


Hot Nerd Chic [+Art]

by OneSmartChicken



Series: The Hot Nerds, the Howlies, and (at least)One Very Bad Man [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fanart, M/M, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-28
Updated: 2017-12-28
Packaged: 2019-02-18 16:17:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13103916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OneSmartChicken/pseuds/OneSmartChicken
Summary: In which Bucky has a thing for cute nerds, Tony has many things (including a crush), and they go to school.





	Hot Nerd Chic [+Art]

**Author's Note:**

  * For [starsandsupernovae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsandsupernovae/gifts).



> (Edit note: Editted the date to today, as advised by the blog, added the art tags, and started the series even though it's all by its lonesome atm~)
> 
> -starts writing a bodyguard au- -wanders after hs au randomly- this was such a wandering mess that there's a yoi au stashed at the bottom of the file I typed this in. Yep.
> 
> (...how do high schools work again?--me, like every other word while writing this)
> 
> How did this happen? _how did I write pre-slash when slash was literally the only goal._
> 
> Anyway this was really fun to write and I hope you enjoy it!!! Happy holidays!!!!!!
> 
> (I apologize that this is unbeta-ed and poorly proofed. Whenever I editted it, crashes of some variety kept happening.)

  


"But Pepper!" Tony whined as he slumped towards his best friend. Pepper's lips twitched, her eyes hooded with amusement, but she didn't budge. He pouted at her. Pepper always said his pout was his finest weapon.

Unfortunately, Pepper was immune.

"Tony, you're in high school," Pepper said, as if this fact were not both obvious and horrendous. And as if she wasn't in the same predicament. "With high school comes _school."_ She swatted him lightly with a loosely rolled stack of worksheets--all of them conspicuously blank.

"It's not like I asked for this," Tony grumbled. Pepper's little smile turned into a larger, less sincere smile that seemed oddly looming. Scrunching up his nose, Tony got out a pen. Pepper took this as the acceptance it was and slapped the worksheets down on the table. Satisfied that she had him successfully penned, she returned to her (disturbingly organic) pizza.

(Not that Tony had a leg to stand on when it came to food; his lunch came in smoothie form, despite Anna and Edwin's collective horror.)

"Chop chop," Clint said, grinning at them, though he couldn't help cringing when Pepper kicked him under the table. Considering her pointy death shoes, it was kind of impressive he only cringed; other beings had been known to shriek and commence theatrics.

"Shut it, bird brain," Tony said absently. Kate snickered at her "non-biological twin" (a term only the two of them understood, considering they really weren't much alike, other than being snarky assholes who made the archery club cry). The pen hit the paper, and _flew._ Clint made that same pathetic little whine he always made when they kicked him when he was down. He may have his own brilliance, but he was scraping by with C's and B's, _with_ tutoring.

Well. For a generous definition of "tutoring" mostly consisting of him trying to do homework in lunch or on the bus and his friends butting in. Technically he'd been doing marginally better the year before, with Rhodey's help, but the handful of lost points was worth escaping the clutches of the Trio of Destruction. And, y'know, one less person at lunch teasing him about his inescapable crush on Phil Coulson, who was kinda old (26) but tended to wash his car shirtless, which had been destroying Clint, his neighbor, since puberty struck.

Tony plowed through the stack in the ten minutes left in lunch.

He sat back with a groan, flexing his fingers to work out the mild cramp. Pepper scooped the stack up, as was her wont; Tony would just shove them into his black hole of a locker if she didn't, ruining all her hard work. Pepper had learned _that_ lesson. This was hardly a new occurrence, after all. Thankfully, the teachers were alarmingly lenient with Tony, so she could just make him complete everything for the week every Thursday (Friday was sacred) and distribute them. It helped that they both had the same classes, save two electives each, and Tony's crazy math, which was near enough her own class to swing by anyway.

"Why do you make me do this every week?" Tony whined as they got up from their table (the same little picnic table under the old tree in the courtyard they claimed every day).

"Why do you fight me every week?" Pepper retorted, though she fixed his hair anyway. She had standards.

"You know, this is why everyone thinks you're dating," Bruce said with a yawn. He always slept through lunch, even now that they'd managed to make it so his stupid dad didn't notice he was only "home" a few hours a week, spending the rest of the time at school or at one of their houses. Pepper's home was preferred, by everyone; she was the only one with normal parents.

Well Peter's was nice too but his aunt and uncle's place was pretty tiny, and they couldn't really all sleep over there except on special occasions. Like when Tony got a wild hair and hadn't slept for two days and felt like upgrading an entire house. Or birthdays. The first was a lot more common though. So common that they all just called Peter's aunt and uncle Aunt May and Uncle Ben, and May and Ben joked (in that way that meant they not-so-secretly meant it) that they had an awful lot of nieces and nephews.

"I thought we were engaged," Pepper said, as Tony looped an arm around her and she stuck a hand in his back pocket. The Hawkeyes exchanged one of their _looks,_ and Clint handed Kate five bucks.

"Everyone apparently remembered you are, despite everything, still in high school. Also if you were engaged you'd have a ridiculous ring," Peter said. He didn't gossip (...well, not much) but he somehow had a better handle on all the latest than any of them. Especially _about_ them. He rarely bothered to share what new, hapless fool had fallen for one of their group anymore. Between Tony's nerd-meets-runway chic, Pepper's daring but classy style, Clint's punk jock vibe, Bruce's weirdly charming rumpled scientist look, and Kate's preppy badassery, they were fairly devastating as a group.

(Peter tended to chalk up any crushes on twiggy-but-fit Peter Parker to the rumor mill. Naturally.)

And honestly, they were a _thousand_ times worse when Clint's older (foster) sister was around, or Tony's fancy fashionista friend who went to a different school--and of course Rhodey, who had left behind a lot of crying teens when he graduated.

Peter joked about weaponizing their group hotness in the same way his aunt and uncle joked about having a lot of nieces and nephews.

There was only one group that could compare: _The Howlies._

Inconsiderately hot, Steve Rogers, Peggy Carter, and Bucky Barnes were the Pepper, Rhodey, and Tony of the "Howling Commandos," who were cool in an entirely different way, where they were all built and gorgeous and kinda scary and wore a lot of leather. Some of them rode motorcycles, and they had matching leather jackets which sounded stupid but they made it work.

Unlike Pepper, Rhodey, and Tony though, as far as Peter knew, the trio's romance was entirely real. Although, he couldn't say he'd ever seen anything more incriminating than the sort of things his friends got up to. But really, it was absurd to think there were _two_ platonic trios with absolutely no boundaries running around the same school being absurdly attractive.

Honestly, what were the odds?

 

+-+-+-+

 

Tony slowly lost his entourage as they wandered past respective classrooms, until it was just him and Pepper, and even she left as they came to his math class. He wasn't sure how theoretical physics and mixed mathematics made it into a high school, but it was fun, despite his friends not joining him. (Peter had the class too, except at a different time.)

"I'm always impressed by the clothing this school allows," mused a familiar voice. Tony turned to smirk at Reed Richards. He could never seem to get a bead on the other genius, and they existed in a weird relationship where they didn't really _like_ each other, sometimes hated each other, but never let feelings get in the way of science, and a good science session always prompted feelings of fondness, so Tony was constantly confused.

Reed seemed to just breeze through conflict like it didn't happen though, which explained him and Victor--actually, no. Nothing explained him and Victor and Sue. Or Ben and Johnny, for that matter. Yet another group, but not as eye catching as Tony's or a certain leathery group. (Cliques were bullshit, it was just a shitton of bizarre friend groups whose interests occasionally matched, creating an illusion of cohesion.)

Tony didn't bother looking at his clothes, knowing the layers were exactly as flattering and mildly absurd for daily use as ever, just grinned at Reed, feeling more vaguely fond that hateful at the moment.

"I'm always impressed by the things your hair can do," he said. "Have you ever covered introducing it to a comb?"

Reed gave this as much consideration as it deserved (none) and moved on to science. By the time class actually started, they were deep into a discussion about black holes, subatomic particles, radiation, and, for some reason knowable only to them, Jolly Ranchers.

The only people in their class who could ever follow the two of them were Victor, Sue, and Ben. Of them, only Victor ever made the effort, and that only when he was there for the start and was actually interested. Since he arrived late and the two were in full mad scientists mode, he left them to it.

Everyone else did the same, including the teacher. The class was more about debating than anything else anyway. Thus, theoretical. At least if they were busy with each other they wouldn't insult any of the other, less... _advanced_ students. Even Ben and Victor had more manners than those two.

Sitting in one of the tiny, uncomfortable school chairs, legs up on the seat despite the size, a pen in his mouth when he wasn't using it to gesticulate dramatically, Tony didn't notice someone stop by the classroom door, looking through the window, from a convenient angle where the teacher and most of the students couldn't see him from. He did hear a muffled laugh, but when he looked up, all he saw was a brief flash of leather. He shrugged it off easily and went back to talking to/destroying Reed.

In the hall, Steve's hand over his mouth did nothing to hide his enormous grin, and very little to stifle his chortles. Bucky kept shoving at him, but that only made him laugh harder.

"Shut it, punk," he hissed, ignoring his flaming cheeks as his mind played that image over and over and over again for him: Tony Stark folded up in a chair, inexplicably sitting both like an eight year old and a model. He wore two shirts, but neither the crop top (red with a gold design cut off) nor the tank top (black with a band logo on it) disguised his toned arms, or the hint of sculpted abs. His black jeans may as well have been painted on, and, as if it wasn't bad enough that he was blisteringly hot, his floppy white and red sneakers were _cute_.

Not that Stark's cuteness was new. Those red-framed glasses were just the right mix of stylish and nerdy, and despite everything, they framed his big eyes rather than hid them, and they gave him the fairly fatal (for Bucky) habit of using his delicate, strong hands to nudge them up his nose, even though they practically never slid.

Stark was some sort of daydream-nightmare, a study in contrasts, and Bucky was stupid over him, much to Steve and Peggy's endless glee. Vengeance for all the time Bucky spent teasing them about Sam and Angie, respectively.

"So when ya gonna ask 'im out?" Steve asked. Bucky shoved him.

 

+-+-+-+

 

 

"You are a walking disaster," Pepper mused. Tony peered down at her from where he was sort of...dangling. His robotic prototype instantly swung him around, pointing its camera at Pepper, ignorant of its creator clutching tight to avoid being flung across the lab.

"Eh," he said. He would've shrugged but that would probably end in pain. "Let's face it; this is hardly the worst thing you've caught me doing."

"Does it have a name?" she asked, one perfect brow lifted in silent judgment. She didn't bother replying; they both knew it was true. The robot turned its camera head, like a curious puppy, dislodging Tony in the process. He landed on his rear with a yelp, soft flesh meeting unyielding concrete. Concrete won.

Whining, he sprawled dramatically on the floor, pouting at Pepper.

"Dummy," he accused with a glare at the robot. The camera turned to him and his glare intensified. "Yeah I'm talking to you! Dummy!" It let out a little beep, the first time it had used its rudimentary audio capabilities.

"Tony _no_ ," Pepper said.

"I didn't do anything!" he protested, which was patently untrue. At any given time it was nearly guaranteed that he had done _something_ worthy of that phrase.

Sometimes he wondered if his real name was 'Tonino.' But he was pretty sure Pepper didn't know anything immediately incriminating.

Probably.

"You are _not_ naming it _Dummy,"_ she said flatly. The robot turned its camera towards her with a beep.

Tony grinned shamelessly. "Pepper, meet Dummy. The most awesome hunk 'a junk you've ever met. Dummy, that's Pepper. She is Empress of All." Dummy bleeped in recognition.

Pepper got a funny look about her, like she didn't know what she was feeling but it was Tony's fault. After a moment, she visibly pushed the entire subject of Tony's brilliant new robot aside. Smart woman. Tony pouted at her and was, predictably, ignored.

"We're going. Now," she declared. "School, Tony. It exists. Lock up your robot and let's go." She scowled fiercely at his disheveled appearance. Her arms crossed as she decided, "Shower first. I can't be seen with you like this." It wasn't like Pepper could just avoid him all day; the very concept was nonsense. Thus, shower.

Tony, recognizing the "do not fuck with me" tone, obediently locked up his lab (telling Dummy to "behave") and lead the way to his room. Pepper picked out his clothes while he scrubbed with industrial strength soap, and lotioned with suitably powerful lotion with a nice, mildly feminine scent. He'd line his eyes in the car; a skill he'd had cause to practice after long exposure to Pepper.

The girl in question had been nice enough to dress him mostly according to his own fashion sense, which had been honed under a decade of Pepper's glower with a side of Jan's bright, unrelenting smile, so he dressed with only minor complaints. He hardly even registered the fact she stood there the whole time, tapping away on her phone. They'd been friends so long they'd just stopped registering each other's nudity, same as Rhodey. It was that or get married, and Pepper was far too gay for that.

They rushed out of the house, taking the back ways just in case. They paused in the kitchen of course, each giving Anna's cheek a kiss and accepting boxes elegantly wrapped in gorgeous cloth; Anna was currently enamored with bento boxes, though she was nice enough to make them small, in recognition of their eating habits at school. (Anna was supportive of their so-called "healthy eating" only to a point.)

"Have a nice day," she waved them off with a sunshine smile as they bolted out the door, far less dignified than many of their peers would expect of them. It was particularly impressive considering Pepper's stab-tastic heels and the dewy state of the grass. They slid into the car, panting. The second the door closed, Happy was off, though his face was red from trying not to laugh.

They made quite the scene, two elite high schoolers with impeccable fashion, running full tilt from the side entrance of a fancy mansion, all the while careful not to jostle their bentos.

"Good time today, boss," Happy eventually managed.

"Good sarcasm today, Hap," Tony retorted, but he was grinning. He and Pepper grinned at each other, bumping shoulders. Most of the time they both felt twice their age and then some. It was fun, sometimes, to just be kids.

"Eyeliner," Pepper said sternly, despite the mirth crinkling her bright eyes. Tony stuck out his tongue. He still dug out his liquid liner and a mirror which Pepper was nice enough to hold while he lined, going slow and careful to avoid a mess, just enhancing his naturally dramatic eyes for the day. He cheated and used the liner as a quick mascara too. Behind his glasses, the makeup was subtle yet gave his eyes a dramatic pop.

Sticking the liner and mirror back in his bag, they gave each other a quick once-over, then hopped out of the car as it came to a stop, calling matching "Bye Happy!"s over their shoulders.

They kept to a brisk walk up to the school, but their attention was on each other.

Pepper wanted to know if Tony did his homework the night before--no, obviously--and also about Dummy, while Tony was trying to get the dirt on Pepper's latest girlfriend, only getting vague answers like "she's pretty" and "she could kill you with her bare hands."

He'd just managed to get Pepper to admit her girlfriend was older than them, when Tony ran head-first into a brick wall. He bounced off it, dropping his bag, but before he could fall himself, a strong arm caught him around the waist. At the same time, he registered the wall was wearing a soft black Henley, and also smelled kind of amazing.

He looked up into silvery multihued eyes and had a brief moment to worry that his heart was acting up again before recognizing the heady feeling of _intense attraction._ The eyes belonged to a model's face, chiseled jaw with the barest hint of stubble, killer cheekbones, and a mouth to break hearts, all framed by a few stray locks escaping a messy bun.

Tony reconsidered the chance of his heart condition acting up. It'd be easier to handle than a crush on this--this-- _guy._

"You okay, doll?" he asked, and his voice. Oh no. _His voice._

Tony realized he was staring and hastily hopped back, the guy's arm dropping to release him. It was only with the added space that he recognized him, and was delayed in responding further as he blinked. He'd seen "Bucky" Barnes and co. before, of course. Last year one of them offended Kate--Tony hadn't given the _how_ much thought--and they had a whole mini feud for two months before Sam ("the pretty one") turned out to be a falconer, which evidently made him, and by extension his friend group, acceptable once more.

To this day Tony still had no idea if the Howlies ever actually knew about the feud. Not everyone could have a Peter to keep tabs on things.

That being said, Tony hadn't really _looked_ , previously. Sure all the Howlies were stupid hot, but he was pretty much surrounded by hotness, all day every day. Bucky had clearly never aimed that soft smile of his at Tony before.

Well. Not while Tony was looking. (Even Tony knew he wasn't the most observant of other humans beings, except when he was.)

"Tony?" Pepper asked. Her tone sounded concerned to the untrained ear. Tony could tell she was laughing at him on the inside. "Your eyeliner is escaping." And she couldn't pick it up, clearly. Well actually, she probably shouldn't, not in that skirt. The school board was lax, but probably not _that_ lax.

Tony cursed, crouching down to start snatching up items. Bucky knelt and helped immediately, and Tony found himself fighting off a blush. Somehow, the last item to get picked up was the wayward eyeliner, and it was Bucky who grabbed it.

"You wear makeup?" he asked, holding the eyeliner out with a smile. His tone was friendly, seemingly nothing more than idle curiosity. And anyway, Tony was so over defending his fashion to assholes.

"Yep," he chirped. "Looks good, right?" He threw in a wink for good measure. And then something amazing happened.

Bucky _blushed_.

It was wonderful. Adorable. Pretty damn hot. His ears got red mostly, and the bridge of his nose, with some darkness low on his cheeks. Tony envisioned a tiny cupid shooting Tony directly through the heart.

The bell rang. _Naturally._

Pepper grabbed Tony, said something apologetic, and then they were off, Tony throwing a glance over his shoulder anxiously as he was hauled away. Bucky looked befuddled. Tony's heart gave a mighty thump.

 

+-+-+-+

 

Steve laughed so hard he had to sit down. Bucky didn't even look, just kicked him off the bench and went right on daydreaming about brown eyes shrouded in thick black lashes, looking up at him over a little smirk.

 

+-+-+-+

 

Tony dropped into the seat across from Peter, which wasn't unusual; their seats all had a habit of rotating. If someone had a bad day, they tended to spend lunch feeling lovingly squished. It also wasn't unusual to find Pepper looking resigned with a faint touch of _embarrassed_ _by all these dorks._ What _was_ unusual was that it was Thursday again (AKA the day of making Tony do copious homework in a terrifyingly short time) and there was no homework in sight.

Also unusual was Tony leaning over the table, staring intently at Peter, baring a tray of food, held towards Peter in an oddly threatening manner. Peter, sensing he would both need the food and come quickly to feel deserving of it, (Tony may be aggressively charitable, but he also had a unique way of making you earn it) accepted the tray. It wasn't like Tony was going to eat cafeteria food anyway. The guy was a snob about cafeteria food. No other food, just cafeteria food.  
Which was...fair enough.

Tony stole a fry (the exception to his snobbery) and used it to point at Peter. "Bucky Barnes," he said, living in a world where segues were entirely optional. "Lay it on me."

"Oh no," whispered Bruce. Pepper pointedly sipped her Very Fancy (gross) shake. The Hawkeyes developed a look of two people watching some sort of sport they were heavily invested in mocking.

Peter though, Peter knew how to just roll with it. His entire fighting strategy was "rolling with it." Nat, who apparently didn't allow anyone she knew and possibly liked to not know how to fight dirty, liked to make him _literally_ roll with the punches. Figuratively was a cake walk.

"James Barnes, part of the Howlies, senior, rumored to be dating Steve Rogers and Peggy Carter. Rides a motorcycle, decent grades, well-liked overall. Possibly a delinquent at his last school. Punched Tiberius Stone last year, got bailed out by the Howlies when the Stones pressed charges," Peter rattled off everything potentially pertinent he remembered from his exhaustive research into the Howlies, as requested by Pepper back during the whole _thing._ He could have just given Tony the file, but something about the way Pepper was eyeing them advised against even mentioning it.

Tony grinned, reaching out to grab Peter's shoulder, giving him a light shake. "Pete, Peter, Petey; you are my favorite," he declared, which was blatant lie but still made Peter feel kind of warm and fuzzy.

Information obtained, Tony started to stand up, only to be yanked back down by Pepper, who also shoved a second shake at him.

No one asked. They'd learned.

 

+-+-+-+

 

"I can't believe you," Pepper mused when, in point of fact, she absolutely could believe him. This was Tony after all. There was very little that could phase Pepper any more, not when it came to her best friend.

Tony sighed dreamily as Bucky laughed. Bucky wasn't looking at Tony, of course. He couldn't. Bucky was on Tony's phone, which was hacked into a security camera the school hadn't had three days ago.

Tony and Pepper were secluded in an unusually dark corner of the school library, where they only ever went so one of them could be embarrassing in private.

"This is creepy," Pepper supplied, ever the voice of reason. Well, not really; Pepper was perfectly capable of all sorts of unreasonable things. She just occasionally seemed tame in comparison to her close friends.

"Yeah you said that," Tony agreed absently. He zoomed in on Bucky's face, and then panned down a little, watching Bucky's thin shirt stretch. He hummed appreciatively.

"So creepy," Pepper insisted, although she was grinning. Tony was, she had said many times and would say many more, the stupidest genius ever. Matt Murdock could see the hearts in Bucky's eyes from a mile away.

The only reason Pepper hadn't noticed sooner was a lingering habit of ignoring the Howlies, from before Sam managed to broker peace. (Unknowingly at that, or seemingly so at least. Pepper had plans to kidnap Sam, when she started her business, or took over Tony's business, or ruled the world. Whichever came first.)

Tony's phone gave one of those little bleeps that Pepper knew he'd spent hours designing to sound "sci-fi but with more me." Tony was the nerd poster child.

Surprisingly, the feed of Bucky disappeared, replaced by a pop-up that definitely wasn't standard to the supposed iPhone in Tony's hand. The text was in an unknown language, possibly one only Tony knew, or maybe just unfamiliar; Pepper couldn't understand _every_ language, after all. (Not _yet_.)

"Tony?" she asked, tone changed entirely, after he spent a few seconds too long staring at the screen. He jumped, like he'd forgotten anyone else was around. That wasn't unusual, but it still worried her, especially when he looked at her with those wide eyes, face pale.

"It's Obi," he whispered, even though they knew for a fact their corner was truly private and no one could sneak up on it without them noticing.

"What?" she asked, quiet, but he still shushed her, so frantically he didn't notice her death glare as he looked around like an abruptly suspicious squirrel.

Leaning closer, he said, still whispering, this time in Italian though, "I told you I went looking in my father's accounts, right?" Pepper nodded, having a feeling no whisper would be quiet enough for Tony and this seemed like a bad time to need to snub him in punishment. "I couldn't find anything, which is even more suspicious. I mean, the company is huge, it's got to have at least a few weasels. So I set a bunch of different scrubbers, made up some new codes, and one of them turned over a big rock last night. My trace finally came through. It's my uncle, Pep."

Pepper's face went pale too. She took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. He leaned in to rest his forehead on her shoulder.

In English, he miserably stated, so quiet she barely heard, "Uncle Obi's a traitor." And Pepper knew then that it was about much more than money.

She wrapped Tony up in a hug, and they both sat there, thinking about the big, awkward man who gave them rare treats and toys when they were children, them and Rhodey and Jan. He was a little scary and a little too rough, but he was always ready with a big smile and a hug, and he was always kind, always welcoming. If they were up to something, he never told if he caught them, and if they were hiding he would let them hide in his office, no matter who they were hiding from or why, from an angry Howard to an energetic game of hide and seek.

Pepper held on tighter.

"Let's spend tonight at Peter's," she said, a decision phrased as a suggestion.

Tony lifted his head. Pepper smiled at him, a vicious edge to it.

"We'll invite Nat," she said. Tony's return smile was just as vicious.

**Author's Note:**

> I only stopped there cause I knew I'd miss the deadline otherwise (oops!) and anywhere else would be more cliffhanger-y.
> 
> I'm intending there top be a sequel of similar length in which they deal with Stane, mingle squads, and, y'know, _maybe Bucky and Tony actually kiss._ Dream big.
> 
> If anyone wants a list of where everyone is, or wants to know where someone specific is, I made a list and in conclusion literally everyone is here somewhere. Except Scott because we have Jan instead. Okay Scott's probably somewhere but I forget about him.
> 
> (Also tell me if you want that yoi au)


End file.
